Jacques Laffitte

Jacques Laffitte
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Seine-Inférieure
In office
2 March 1839 – 26 May 1844
Preceded byJean-François Izarn
Succeeded byHenry Barbet
ConstituencyRouen
In office
21 June 1834 – 8 February 1838
Preceded byJacques Asselin de Villequier
Succeeded byJean-François Izarn
ConstituencyRouen
Prime Minister of France
In office
2 November 1830 – 13 March 1831
MonarchLouis Philippe I
Preceded byJules de Polignac
Succeeded byCasimir Perier
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
21 August 1830 – 11 November 1830
MonarchLouis Philippe I
Preceded byCasimir Perier
Succeeded byCasimir Perier
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Basses-Pyrénées
In office
29 March 1827 – 21 June 1834
Preceded byJean de Nays Candau
Succeeded byJean Isidore Harispe
ConstituencyBayonne
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Seine
In office
8 February 1838 – 2 March 1839
Preceded byAntoine Odier
Succeeded byEmmanuel de Las Cases
ConstituencyParis (6th arrondissement)
In office
8 May 1815 – 25 February 1824
Preceded byGaspard Louis Caze de La Bove
Succeeded byJacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure
ConstituencyParis (2nd arrondissement)
Governor of the Bank of France
In office
6 April 1814 – 1820
Preceded byFrançois Jaubert
Succeeded byMartin-Michel-Charles Gaudin
Personal details
Born(1767-10-24)24 October 1767
Bayonne, Labourd, France
Died26 May 1844(1844-05-26) (aged 76)
Paris, France
Resting placePère Lachaise Cemetery
Political partyDoctrinaires (1815–1830)
Movement Party (1830–1844)
ProfessionBusinessman, banker
Signature

Jacques Laffitte (24 October 1767 – 26 May 1844) was a leading French banker, governor of the Bank of France (1814–1820) and liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy. He was an important figure in the development of new banking techniques during the early stages of industrialization in France. In politics, he played a decisive role during the Revolution of 1830 that brought Louis-Philippe, the duc d'Orléans, to the throne, replacing the unpopular Bourbon king Charles X.

Laffitte was named president of the new Citizen King's Council of Ministers and Minister of Finances (2 November 1830 – 13 March 1831). After a brief ministry of 131 days, his "Party of Movement" gave way before the "Party of Order" led by the banker Casimir-Pierre Périer. Laffitte left office discredited politically and financially ruined. He rebounded financially in 1836 with his creation of the Caisse Générale du Commerce et de l'Industrie, a forerunner of French investment banks of the second half of the 19th century such as the Crédit Mobilier (1852). The Caisse Générale did not survive the financial crisis caused by the Revolution of 1848.[1]

  1. ^ There is no biography of Laffitte in English. The excellent, most recent biography in French is by Virginie Monnier, Jacques Laffitte. Roi des banquiers et banquier des rois (Bruxelles, 2013). In 2007 a colloquium on Jacques Laffitte was held at the Château de Maisons and the papers delivered were published subsequently in the Bulletin de la Société des amis du château de Maisons, No.3 (2008).

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